City man facing stabbing trial now heads for drug case

COLUMBUS – A 34-year-old Columbus man with a pending trial for a December stabbing is now heading for trial on a serious drug charge in connection with a search of his impounded vehicle while he was being held in custody at the county jail.

Defendant David Tate will be arraigned March 16 in Platte County District Court on charges of possession of 10 to 27 grams of methamphetamine and being a habitual criminal stemming from the initial Dec. 6 stabbing in the basement of a residence on the west side of the city.

Platte County Judge Frank Skorupa on Thursday set Tate’s bond at $150,000 with a 10-percent option.

The defendant is already awaiting an April 10 district court trial on charges of second-degree assault, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and being a habitual criminal in connection with the stabbing of a 35-year-old city woman, who suffered wounds to her abdomen, back and buttocks.

Thursday’s hearing on drug and habitual criminal charges were a result of a Columbus Police search of the defendant’s impounded pickup about a week following Tate’s arrest.

A search of the defendant’s sealed 2008 GMC Sierra revealed a backpack containing a large baggie with an off-white crystal substance inside, according to Investigator Heath Haynes’ probable cause arrest statement.

The substance, which weighed slightly more than an ounce, field tested positive for meth, the investigator wrote in his statement.

The drug charge is punishable by up to 50 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of three behind bars. A habitual criminal conviction, which provides for mandatory maximum and minimums, can add decades to a defendant’s sentence.

Tate was previously sentenced to prison in 2006, 2013 and 2015 in Platte County.